Device for shifting a section of railway track laid on its bed of ballast



May 9, 1967 E. E. OVILLE 3,318,259

DEVICE FOR SHIFTING A SECTION OF RAILWAY TRACK LAID ON ITS BED OF BALLAST 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed March 17, 1964 May 9, 1967 E. E OVILLE 3,318,259

DEVICE FOR SHIFTING A SECTION OF RAILWAY TRACK LAID ON ITS BED OF BALLAST 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 17, 1964 Dba @an United States Patent O 3,318,259 DEVICE FOR SHIFTING A SECTION F RAILWAY TRACK LAID 0N ITS BED 0F BALLAST` Eugne E. Oville, Lausanne, Switzerland, assiguor to Matisa Materiel Industriel S.A., Lausanne, Switzerland, a Swiss joint-stock company Filed Mar. 17, 1964, Ser. No. 352,567 Claims priority, application Swi6tzerland, March 18, 1963, 3,3 3 9 Claims. (Cl. 1114-2) The present invention relates to devices for shifting a .section of railway track which rests on its bed of ballast, and in particular to machines known under the names of Shifters, squarers, lifters-shifters, levellers-squarers, etc.

The invention essentially proposes to effect this shifting by means of a mechanism actuated by a jack and hinged so that the shifting strain is applied on the section of track at a point situated on the level where the shifting resistance occurs. The track section may then pivot freely about this point which is at the level of the sleepers.

It is known that in order to displace transversely a railway track already laid, one shifts successive sections by means of devices of extremely varied kinds, movable along the tir-ack. This diversity is in great part explained by the desire to avoid the tendency of tilting of the track subjected to shifting. In fact, it is recalled that resistance to shifting results a little from the rigidity of the rails, more from the rail-sleeper assembly, and above all from the sleepers themselves in contact with the ballast, either by adherence, or by the faces which they present thereto, that is to say by which these sleepers act on the ballast during shifting. It follows that this resistance R is situated at a level near to the inner face of the sleepers when the latter rest on the ballast, or, to the upper face when they are raised. It is further noted that the amount of this shifting resistance is generally high.

Accordingly, all the Shifters which merely apply a horizontal shifting force at the height of the rail heads produce at the same time a considerable tilting couple of the shifted track which therefore does not produce linear shifting.

Certain Shifters reduce this couple by horizontally shouldering the rail by its foot, at the serious risk of damaging the same.

Other known machines secure the two lines of rails by grippers to a chassis which is shifted with the track, generally by means of jacks. The most improved devices attempt to neutralize any resulting tilting but introduce harmful stresses which either interfere with the shifting, or more or less prevent a rectification of the transverse levelling. The horizontality ofthe force applied is moreover diflicult to ensure. This latter drawback is particularly important on the lifters-shifters the hoisting jacks of which uselessly resist the tilting couple. Such shift-ing produces levelling deviations which Vrnust be corrected by additional operations which is of great inconvenience since the correction of the leveling deviations influences in its turn the magnitude of shift.

On tamping-levelling-squaring machines of high precision which `operate continuously and must leave behind them a perfectly rectified track, the interdependency lbetween the shifting and the levelling, means that by correcting the undulations of the lay out, one produces an undulation in the levelling of each file of rails, and thus an abnormal undulation in the vertical cant.

Patented May 9, 1967 The present invention contemplates a new device for shifting a railway track laid on its bed of ballast, Which avoids the drawbacks cited above. It has for an object to provide a device for shifting a section of railway track laid on its bed of ballast, including, on the one hand, a hinged frame constituted by -a chassis carrying rail grippers, a supporting chassis and two connecting members, and on the other hand, at lleast one shifting jack. The device according to the invention is characterized by the fact that the frame has four hinges which are on twO straight lines which intersect one another Iat a point located at the level of the sleepers, so that the track and the chassis which is connected thereto may freely pivot about this point when the shifting jack operates to elect the shifting.

FIGS. 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawing show, by way of example, three embodiments of the device according to the invention. Each figure shows diagrammatically a front view of one embodiment in partial sections, disposed transversely to the track.

In FIG. l which is for the greater part symmetrical, the same reference number has been employed for corresponding symmetrical elements so as to render the description more clear.

In the drawing is seen two files of rails 1 connected by a sleeper 2 resting on `the ballast 3.

The track is rendered integral with a horizontal chassis 4 by two rail grippers 5. Connected to chassis 4 at hinges 6 are two slanting bars 7 themselves hinged at 8 to a second horizont-al chassis 9. The four hinges 6 and 8 of the frame thus formed are therefore at the angles of a trapezium of which the extension of the two nonparallel sides (6 8) defines a point of intersection A located between the upper `and lower surfaces of the sleeper 2.

The chassis 9 may slide horizontally in the two guides 10 of an auxiliary chassis 11 under the action of a shifting jack, the cylinder 12 of which is fixed to 11 while the rod 13 of the piston 14 thereof is xe'd to chassis 9. This auxiliary chassis 11 may itself slide freely in the vertical direction due to the sliding engagement of its two lower guides 15 and its two upper guides 16 on two columns 17 integral with the front girder 18 of a railway vehicle not shown. t

The operation of this essential part of the device is the following:

In the position shown, if it is assumed that the shifting jack is not under pressure, it will be seen that the track section is entirely free relative to girder 18. In fact, this s ection and the bridge 4 which is connected thereto may freely pivot about the instantaneous center of rotation A formed by the connecting rods 7. The free horizontal sliding is ensured by guides 10, While guides 15, 16 and columns 17 ensure the freedom of vertical movement While preventing the tilting of t-he group 9-11. Thus girder 18 does not transmit any strain to the track.

If a pressure fluid is supplied to the shifting jack, the latter extends and moves chassis 9 -to the right in the drawing, and the right-hand connecting rod 7 is subjected to tensile stress and the left-hand connecting rod subjected to compression stress. These -tWo forces are necessarily equal as required from the condition of vertical equilibrium of the group 9-11 sliding freely on columns 17. As a result the two connecting rods exert on the track section a resultant horizontal force which balances the shifting resistance R as shown in the ligure whereby track section is thus displaced towards the right.

.tions of the slant possible in practice, this relative displacement is Very reduced and in particular its vertical component-Which alone isV of importance-remains wit-hout yappreciable inuence.,

Inversely, the shortening of the shifting jack produces a ydisplacement of the track to the left in the drawing, and

all takes place definitely as if girder 18 applied -to the track a. horizontal force and as if this track was hinged at A.

Applied on a shifter only, which does not have to lift the track, this device permits dragging the track transvversely-on the ballast tolerating if need be vthe pivoting imposed by the irregularities of the stones of the ballast. The shifting is thus facilitated in the most satisfactory manner andthe levelling error is reduced to a minimum.

This fundamental property of the embodiment described is preserved when the track is raised from the ballast, for example by props placed in fron-t and behind the section displaced which will thus assume its natural position.

Furthermore, girder 18 may rest direct-ly on lthe ballast to ensure the support necessary for the shifting.

In FIG. 1, there has been further shown in dot and dash VA=lin`es two hoisting jacks each constituted by a cylinder 19 with a piston 20 having a slidable rod 21. Each jack pivots at 22 on 4 and at 23 on 18.

'Ihese jacks permit not only of hoisting the track section, but also to x the transverse slant thereof.

Their pendular mounting is such that they practically do. not impede the shifting, and in its turn the latter is without influence on them since the track is to all intents andpurposes hinged at A. One thus provides .the independence of the hoisting and shifting stresses, which greatly facilitates the operationsalready mentionedonthe hoisting-propping machines, but above all permits considerable improvement of the accuracy of the most improved levelling-squaring machines which employ automatic servo-motors.

In FIG. 2 has been shown with the same references those parts of the elements of FIG. 1 which are found again in the second embodiment.

In this example, the bars 7 are replaced by two hydraulic shifting jacks instead of one. Each one is hinged through its rod 13 at 6 and through its cylinder r12 Iat 8. The auxiliary chassis 11 is eliminated and -the chassis 9 merges into the girder 18 of the frstexample.

` On girder'18 is fixed the body 24 of a slide distributor `25 of entirely Lsymmetrical construction. In the position shown, the oil pressure in Ithe supply duc-t 26 vistransmitted to the two chambers 27. of the distributor while communication of duct 26 with the two discharge ducts 28 is blocked by distributor 25. Since each of chambers 27 is connected-by ariiexible conduit 29 to the chamber 30 vof the shifting jacks and by a flexible frightin the drawingthe projection 33 of the slide maintains under pressure the chamber 30 on the left and the chamber 32 .on the right. But thevchamber 27 "on the right, and thereby the two other chambers 30 and 3.2,

are at the same time connected to the discharge 28. The left-hand jack thereby tends to lengthen, and the righthand one tends to shorten with the same energy since these two jacks have the same sections. There again results in the development of a horizontal shifting force at A, which produces displacement of the track to the right until the slide 25 is brought back to the middle position. The movement in the opposite direction is effected by moving slide 25 to the left.

The operation of the hoisting jacks, marked in dot and dash lines in the drawing, remains unchanged and the same practical independence is preserved between hoisting and shifting.

FIG. 3 again shows, with Ithe same reference characters, a part of the elements of FIG. 1.

In this example, the shifting jack 12, 14, 13 is hinged at 6 to chassis 4 and at 8 to girder 18, so that it forms one of the extensible connecting rods of the deformable frame, Ithe other connecting rod being the hoisting jack (19, 2t), 21) to t-he right in the drawing. The four articulations 6, 8, 22 and 23 are arranged Ialong two straight lines converging at A. The other hoisting jack, lto the left of the figure is obviously free of any shifting stress.

In order to shift the track to the right of the drawing, the shifting jack must be lengthened which, acting under compression, provides at Aa slanting force the horizontal component of which balances R the vertical component being compensated by the right-hand hoisting jack only. This compensation may easily be effected by the usual means of hydraulics, such as an auxiliary jack, suitable control of the pressures in the chambers, etc.

Many other variants may be considered within the scope of the invention. A variant of FIG. l, will be mentioned in which theY shifting jack (12, 13, 14) could replace one of t-he bars 7, the sliding at guide 10 being then eliminated.

What I claim is:

L1A device for shifting a part of a railway track having sleepers resting on a bed of ballast, said device comprising: an articulated frame constituted by two superposed transverse members and two connecting members which are hingeably connected to said transverse members, rail grippers carried by the lower of said transverse members, and at least one shifting jack for acting on said frame to shift said" track, the articulation points of one connecting member defining a straight'line which intersects a straight line` passing through the articulation points of the second connecting member at a point located at the level of the railway track sleepers.

2. A device according to claim 1, wherein said two connecting members are of fixed length, the upper transverse member being slidably supported for movement transverse to the railway track, said shifting jack being engaged with the upper member for shifting the same.

3. A device according to claim '1, wherein said two connecting members 4are of variable length and the device further comprises control means for actuating said connecting members so that one connecting member is reduced in lengt-h while the length of the other connecting member `increases.

4. IA device according to claim 1, comprising heightadjusting means suspended from the upper transverse member in pendulum-like fashion transverse of the railway track forV being articulated to said lower transverse member.

Vthat the straight line'running through the articulation points of the oblique connecting member intersects t-he straight linerunning through the articulation points of one of the two other connecting members at a point located at the level of the railway track sleepers.

6. A device according to claim 1, wherein said one shifting jack is axially coupled to one of said connecting members.

7. A device according to claim 3, wherein tw-o shifting jacks are provided, each being .axially coupled to a respective connecting member.

8. A device according to claim 3, wherein at least one of the connecting members is a rigid bar.

9. A device according to claim 3, wherein at least one of the connecting members is variable in length and said shifting jack is axially coupled thereto.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,926,616 3/1960 Talboys 104-7 3,134,339 5/1964 Plasser et al. 104-8 ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

R. A. BERTSCH, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A DEVICE FOR SHIFTING A PART OF A RAILWAY TRACK HAVING SLEEPERS RESTING ON A BED OF BALLAST, SAID DEVICE COMPRISING: AN ARTICULATED FRAME CONSTITUTED BY TWO SUPERPOSED TRANSVERSE MEMBERS AND TWO CONNECTING MEMBERS WHICH ARE HINGEABLY CONNECTED TO SAID TRANSVERSE MEMBERS, RAIL GRIPPERS CARRIED BY THE LOWER OF SAID TRANSVERSE MEMBERS, AND AT LEAST ONE SHIFTING JACK FOR ACTING ON SAID FRAME TO SHIFT SAID TRACK, THE ARTICULATION POINTS OF ONE CONNECTING MEMBER DEFINING A STRAIGHT LINE WHICH INTERSECTS A STRAIGHT LINE PASSING THROUGH THE ARTICULATION POINTS OF THE SECOND CONNECTING MEMBER AT A POINT LOCATED AT THE LEVEL OF THE RAILWAY TRACK SLEEPERS. 